- LARRY KUZNIEWSKI
- Rudy Gay trade rumors came roaring back over the past two days.
The Rudy Gay trade scuttle quieted down for a few days after last week’s deal between the Grizzlies and the Cleveland Cavaliers lessened the financial imperative for the Grizzlies to make a move this season. But that trade did nothing to remove the long-range need for the Grizzlies to correct their salary trajectory, and that, in concert with the Grizzlies’ shooting limitations, meant an in-season Gay trade had to still be an option.
Monday night, just as the Grizzlies were mounting a comeback in Philadelphia, the Rudy Gay Trade Machine got revving again, with a Marc Stein report that Toronto, long-rumored to have interest in Gay, was in “active trade discussions” with the Grizzlies. And that report got some back-up via Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reported Tuesday night that the Grizzlies are “determined” to move Gay “as soon as possible” and are looking for a third team to involve.
I wrote this about the Raptors as a potential trade partner in my Rudy Gay Trade Opus:
Toronto Raptors: Toronto has shown an interest in Gay in the past, but there’s no good deal to be made here. Any one-on-one deal — like this — would have to include the $10.5 million expiring contract of Jose Calderon, and that’s too much for the Grizzlies to invest in a back-up point guard in a season when they’re still trying to make some post-season noise. A better bet would probably be a multi-team trade with Calderon or even Andrea Bargnani going somewhere else, but I haven’t come up with any good scenarios along those lines.
In truth, I was too fatigued at the time to try to dream up multi-team scenarios involving Toronto, but now that there are actual reports that such ideas are being discussed, it seems more purposeful.